Golden Snidget quickly shook his head. "Are you serious? They're not even qualified as Warding yet. Even if they were promoted, we couldn't trust them until they've taken the Elixir."
"Oh? So you admit they can't be trusted. I was worried I was the only one who felt that way," Ashwinder replied with a mock-surprised expression.
"Hmph. Don't play games with me," Golden Snidget said, clearly annoyed. "That kind of baiting is pointless. Just focus on doing your job."
"Alright, alright, I get it. My bad," Ashwinder said, waving his hand in an exaggerated gesture, though it was hard to tell how seriously he took the warning.
After exchanging a few more words, Golden Snidget headed to the materials warehouse, collected some funds, and left the headquarters.
Watching all of this unfold from the shadows, Alex quietly analyzed the information he had just gathered.
"Judging by their conversation, it's likely that Golden Snidget doesn't actually have control over Ashwinder's transformation phase. There's definitely a lack of trust between those two."
He continued his internal monologue. "On another note, it looks like my hunch was right, the club's supply of magical creatures is running low, and they're now relying heavily on the breeding base to keep things going."
"As for the north, east, and local areas they mentioned… they're likely discussing potential expansion strategies, whether to break into Northern or Eastern Europe, or perhaps accelerate operations in Germany."
Splitting Germany could be a smart long-term strategy for the club, but it needs to be handled carefully. Now that things are reaching a critical point, making a reckless move and failing could lead to consequences even worse than losing the British transit hub.
Ideally, the goal should be to finish dividing Germany within the next five to ten years. Once that's done, the Silver Wand-backed leadership should aim to gain full control of one of the resulting nations, preferably West Germany. Its access to the sea makes it perfect for solving transportation issues, especially for moving magical creatures from America.
Right now, the focus should be on setting up a supply route for magical animals coming from northern or eastern Europe. Eastern Europe has an abundance of magical creatures, and Northern Europe, while not as rich in local resources, is conveniently close to the sea and can receive shipments from the Americas during all seasons except winter. Both regions offer unique advantages.
However, there are challenges too. Wizards in Eastern Europe are notoriously exclusive and hostile toward outsiders, which makes forming partnerships difficult in the short term.
Northern Europe, on the other hand, is home to the Pure Land Society, and the club has already lost several Silver Wands there in recent years. Despite this, Alex, putting himself in the shoes of the Golden Snidget, would still lean toward using the north as a starting point for expansion.
While Eastern Europe holds untapped potential, the process of infiltrating the region, eliminating resistance, finding allies, hunting, and transporting magical creatures would take years. That's assuming they can even establish a branch there, which hasn't happened yet due to the intense pushback.
Northern Europe might pose more immediate danger, but it also offers a quicker payoff. Given that it's currently summer, temporary transport routes can be set up without the need for a full Nordic branch. Though expensive, these routes could allow the club to act fast and efficiently, something they desperately need right now.
Once everything was sorted out, Alex felt ready to move forward. After carefully going through all the information piece by piece and thinking things through, he finally had a rough idea of what his "Silver Wand" plan might look like.
The current situation within the club was still relatively stable, which actually posed a problem for him, stability meant fewer opportunities to stir things up or act unnoticed. If everything continued smoothly and everyone just followed the usual procedures, he wouldn't have a chance to take advantage of the chaos he needed.
After spending a few more hours organizing his thoughts and piecing together the clues, Fang and Shalltear returned from their assignment. They had been out on guard duty. As soon as they came back, Fang delivered some unexpected and rather shocking news.
"What? You're saying you were with Eisenberg the entire day? You never let him out of your sight?" Alex asked, clearly surprised. "And you're sure he still had the Golden Snidget with him the whole time?"
Fang looked a bit confused by Alex's sudden reaction but answered honestly, "Yes, that's right. Minister Eisenberg never left my sight. He had that Golden Snidget, or whatever it really is, with him the whole time.
He went out today to meet with a few NGO administrators. One of them was Milan Claremont, the same person Franz mentioned. But Eisenberg wasn't swapped or interfered with in any way."
Alex narrowed his eyes, clearly intrigued. "Now that... is interesting," he muttered to himself, falling silent as he sank into deep thought once again.
Alex couldn't help but feel puzzled. Just a few hours ago, he had clearly seen Golden Snidget visiting the Silver Wand headquarters. But according to Fang, he'd been keeping a close eye on Golden Snidget all day. That meant when Golden Snidget was inside the club, someone else wearing a Golden Snidget mask was outside at the same time.
In other words, were there two Golden Snidgets? This odd situation was definitely worth looking into. Were they both real? Or was one just an imposter?
As Alex tried to make sense of it all, the first thing that came to his mind wasn't a person, but an object: the Time-Turner. It's a magical device used for time travel, shaped like a small hourglass hanging from a necklace.
Each turn takes the user one hour back into the past. Normally, it's only safe to rewind up to five hours, any more than that and you risk serious consequences. Accidents involving time magic can be catastrophic.
While Alex had always been curious about time-based magic and alchemy, he wasn't reckless. He knew better than to mess with something so dangerous without solid knowledge and preparation. Time magic is notoriously unstable, and even a small mistake could lead to disaster.
There have been cases where wizards accidentally harmed, or even killed, their past or future selves. So despite his interest, Alex hadn't studied it deeply.
Still, right now, the Time-Turner was the only thing that made any sense. It could explain how someone could be in two places at once and why Golden Snidget, or someone pretending to be him, was able to show up so openly.
If the German Ministry of Magic had access to Time-Turners, and if Eisenbergr, as a high-ranking official, got his hands on one, then that might explain a lot. But even then, Alex wasn't convinced. There were still too many unanswered questions.
For example, back when Eisenbergr was active in politics before joining the Ministry, did he already have access to a Time-Turner? Also, considering that the Silver Wands, being long-lived, don't have to worry much about time, would they really choose to risk using such a dangerous magical item for years on end? One wrong move could change everything.
Alex sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration. The more he thought about it, the more complicated it seemed. There just wasn't enough information to draw any solid conclusions yet.
Still, the discovery opened up new possibilities and directions for him to explore. One thing was clear: this mystery ran deeper than it first appeared.